lhins: bringing it all back home - Registered Nurses' Association of ...

Whatever journeys
RNAO members are
on this summer –
whether it’s traveling
with family or relaxing
with friends, pursuing
professional development,or
continuing to
enhance the health, comfort and quality of
life of Ontarians – you should take heart that
health-care reform has shown few signs of a
summer slow-down.
Since the onset of summer, Health
Minister George Smitherman has made a
handful of announcements about investments
to strengthen the community and
long-term care sectors – essential prerequisites
to ensuring the success of the government’s
health-care transformation agenda.
The announcements have included: $58.3
million more for community-based mental
health services; $112.7 million for home and
community care services; $2.7 million to
ensure new research and best practices help
improve the health and the care of longterm
care residents (see pg.7 for more on
this); and a freeze in long-term care accommodation
costs.
Hospitals have not been shut out of
receiving good news either. On the first
day of summer, individual hospitals
received their first multi-year funding
announcement in the province’s history –
an announcement that included at least
$1.75 billion over three years in new funding
for hospitals. Meanwhile, the creation
of a new Ministry of Health Promotion
could hold promise that public health may
finally receive the attention and resources
it deserves.
RNAO members, especially long-standing
ones, will also likely be aware that on
July 25th, Premier McGuinty announced
$28 million for late-career nurses working
in hospitals and long-term care homes.The
investment gives Ontario’s nurses who are
older than 55 the chance to keep on nursing,
but in less physically demanding roles,
such as working as mentors, patient and
family educators or staff advisors on clinical
issues. This announcement is only one piece
of the health human resource puzzle, but it
is a critical piece if we are to retain the
knowledge, expertise, wisdom and commitment
of experienced nurses.
These announcements are obviously
incremental and only drops in the healthcare
reform bucket. Some may even be
viewed as re-announcements
or roll-outs of previously
proclaimed public investments.
Neither do these
announcements negate the
anxiety of nurses whose jobs
may be threatened during the
government’s balanced-budget
process.
But it’s important for
nurses and the public they
serve to recognize and support
the government when
it takes steps in the right direction along
the winding road to reforming health care.
The government’s creation and initial
staffing of one of its key reform initiatives
– Local Health Integration Networks, or
LHINs – may be a case in point.As executive
director Doris Grinspun says in our
cover piece (pg.12): “Anything that helps
to create a more seamless, navigable and
accessible system is a good thing….. We
have to remember that LHINs are merely a
tool, and we are all responsible for how
they’re used. As nurses, we need to be vigilant
at this early stage to ensure LHINs
evolve to strengthen medicare.”
So as summer fades away and the fall
beckons, nurses will have many questions
President’s View with Joan Lesmond
Healthy reform afoot during summer’s heat,
but challenges await us in the fall
“It’s important
to ensure nurses’
knowledge,
expertise and
experience continue
to contribute to
shaping the future
of health care.”
to ask, issues to raise, and points to make to
the government, to health-care employers,
to each other, and of course to the public
as we work together to improve the healthcare
system.
For instance, we will be looking to the
Health Minister to announce this autumn
that he will be implementing the best and
strongest recommendations from Elinor
Caplan’s review of the competitive bidding
process, including the elimination of the
“elect to work” model that has marginalized
home-care nurses for too long.
We will continue to press for protecting
RNs from layoffs.We will be
awaiting the latest statistics
from the College of Nurses
of Ontario to see how much
closer we are to reaching the
70 per cent solution.We will
urge government to invest
funds to find positions for all
of Ontario’s new grads, and
employers to hire them. We
will monitor the government’s
progress on healthcare
reform to ensure nurses’
knowledge, expertise and experience continue
to contribute to shaping the future of
health care.And, of course, we will be vigilant
in our efforts to ensure two-tiered
health-care does not take hold in Ontario or
the rest of Canada.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your
summer. Please make sure you renew your
membership and bring many new members
early in the fall. That way more RNs will
continue to enjoy the myriad events and
opportunities offered by RNAO. We will
continue to serve our members with commitment,
knowledge and passion.
JOAN LESMOND, RN, BScN, MSN, IS
PRESIDENT OF RNAO.
Registered Nurse Journal 5